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I'm posting this here only because I've tried to contact ANYONE i thot could help me. I've contacted America's Most Wanted, Dateline, 24 Hrs Mystery, Nancy Grace, and any other show you can imagine AND THEN SOME.
My great aunt was a great gal by all account although eccentric. She became a WAC during WW2. She met a guy from Sheepshead Bay in NYC who owned either a pizza chain or butcher shop. I guess all went ok for awhile and once when on leave from the army she went back home to Providence and told family members that she thot something weird was going on in his shop. Right after that she went back to NY and was never heard from again.
I've been obssessed by this story for years and have come to no leads. One night I was at work and a co-worker whose very Brooklyn-centric came to me w/a paperback book by Jerry Capeci whos a mafia expert and teaches at some colleges. In his book as I thumbed thru it, all the names and locations seemed eerily similar to people my aunt prob married into. I sent Mr Capeci a letter and of course I never heard back. Of course my aunt thot there was an illegal gambling thing going on in the basement of the shop or such and was murdered b/c of it.
I'm trying to figure out how to get access to cold case files etc and have no idea where to begin. I'm sure she was murdered as she never contacted anyone after her last leave in the service and returned to NY.
Any detectives here?

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Thx offroad....OK I think u folks are missing what I'm asking.........Does anyone know how to access any police records or how to go to a police station and get access to ole police records or ANYTHING else that could get closer to evidence than my aunt sleeps w/fishes?

Umm pym I think I made that clear but thanks for your input. I think Imentioned ww2 which was ages ago and she was never heard from again.

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I figured as much.......But i was just surmising{sluething??} a likely end result. I'm a Long-Islander and New Yorker of 6 generations. I have some insight into 'dark goings on'. My advice would be to start at the address of that Pizza/ BUTCHER shop. Sorry.....I'm not Dick Tracey.:frown1:

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I figured as much.......But i was just surmising{sluething??} a likely end result. I'm a Long-Islander and New Yorker of 6 generations. I have some insight into 'dark goings on'. My advice would be to start at the address of that Pizza/ BUTCHER shop. Sorry.....I'm not Dick Tracey.:frown1:

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I wish I could find out how to find it in Sheepshead Bay. Right now I'm more concerened w/police records and how to find them to get a real start. The names in that guy's book are eerily the same as my aunt's husband

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well -
have you contacted the local police dept.?
Surely there were police reports, where people
had to be interviewed, i.e. the last person to see her, etc.
and i think police records should be made available to family
members. I would start with that. Good luck!

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If you don't know how to access police records and cold case files, ask the police themselves. They must have procedures in place for it. Or, talk to a P.I. for advice about what options are available to you.

This isn't a regular Google search, or a search of online news, but a search through the text of microfiche copies of old newspapers. Many from the New York area are certainly included from all dates during the 20th Century.

And if you haven't done so already, check for any records of your great aunt at a genealogy site, such as:

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Thx for all the input folks. Any ideas are mucho appreciated. I actually did approach a policeman on the street to ask some questions but the answer he gave me was anything but encouraging. I must say tho that the idea of trying to re-open a case that probably has mob connections makes me think twice as much as I'd love to know.

You may or may not find anything. There may have never been an official investigation into your aunt's disappearance. Did anybody even report it to the police? As someone who has observed local mob activities, I know NOTHING! NOTHING!

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Sounds like something out of a James Ellroy novel. In fact, you might want to check Ellroy's autobiographical My Dark Places to see how he went about trying to track down his mother's murderer. Good luck with your search.